Just when it looked like Manchester United’s season had reached a nadir, a new low point was found in the 0-2 defeat to Newcastle at Old Trafford.
Outside of the performance, which was clearly way below acceptable levels, the match discourse will be dominated by something happening at Old Trafford that usually doesn’t occur.
That was, of course, Joshua Zirkzee being cheered off when he was taken off by Ruben Amorim after around 30 minutes of a nightmare for the fans and players alike.
No matter how bad things are at the club, and this club has seen some truly abysmal ones in the last decade, one thing that never happens is the Old Trafford faithful turning on one of their own.
To the Man Utd fans‘ credit, Zirkzee received warm applause afterward but the sight of the Dutchman running straight into the tunnel after being cheered off was painful viewing.
While the player hardly set the world alight, the true reason behind that wretched moment happening was not even in the stadium.
Joshua Zirkzee was the target, Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the cause
Zirkzee is not going to be jumping up in the air celebrating this assertion but he was just the target of the fan frustration on the day, not the cause behind it.
For the first 30 minutes, no United player could have held their hand up and said they were doing well so any of the 11 could have been substituted.
Furthermore, it’s highly likely that no matter which player was subbed off, the fans would have reacted in the same way, Zirkzee just happened to be the one who became the target.
That is because he was far from the worst player on the pitch during an opening 30 minutes where it was men against boys.
The fans were getting antsy and a large part of that is down to the toxic culture that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the new regime have brought with them to Old Trafford.
Be it cutting MU Foundation benefits, increasing ticket prices, removing minor £50 steward bonuses, ex-player charity, or Christmas parties, Ratcliffe has left no stone unturned to make it clear to the fans that he doesn’t want to listen to them.
At the same time as those cuts, £21.4 million was spent on correcting their own mistake in the summer so all these other cuts are less than a drop in the ocean in comparison.
Fans are being asked to pay £66, with the potential for a further increase to watch this on a freezing December night so the frustration is extremely natural.
It’s just unfortunate that the person truly responsible behind it, or even the Glazers, who are cosily hiding behind Ineos, weren’t even in the stadium to see the effect of what they’ve done.
Ruben Amorim is in a no-win situation
The Man Utd manager has admirably held the fort as effectively the club ambassador, saying all the right things in the press but he’s been put in a no-win situation by the ownership.
Ratcliffe is not the one giving multiple interviews before and after every match when he and the Glazers are actually the ones calling the shots.
It leaves Amorim to expand on the changes that he probably hasn’t even been asked about before they were implemented at the club.
He has had to strike a fine balancing act of not going against the owners while also satiating the fan sentiment where the frustration bubbling under the surface finally boiled over.
Zirkzee was the outlet and an unfortunate one at that.
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